Executive Summary
Executive Summary
The Knight Commission sees a major role for public service media in meeting community information needs. Building on a strong base of trust, public media should become more local, more inclusive and more interactive, the commission said. To accomplish this, the commission recommends increased support from Congress.
This paper proposes changes in leadership, structure and funding to meet these goals. It addresses the context in which public media operate and the strategic openings created by broadband expansion. It recommends building on existing models of innovation, making a virtue of the decentralized structure of public broadcasting and redefining what is included under the umbrella of public service media.
The paper begins with a tale of two communities. Akron, Ohio, is home to the first newspaper owned and edited by John S. and James L. Knight, but the newspaper is losing circulation and staff, leaving its 200,000 citizens with few alternatives for local news and information. Meanwhile, in nearby Cleveland, a bold venture in rethinking public service media has broken down barriers to serve its community on air and online.
For public service media “this is potentially a 1967 moment,” said Ernest J. Wilson, chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), referring to the legislation that transformed educational television and radio into a national public broadcasting service. Public service media can take advantage of the digital revolution to remake itself. But current structures, laws and a shortage of funds pose challenges. While National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have developed strong news and information programming at the national level, capacity among local stations is uneven and very limited at a majority of local stations.
To become more local, this paper recommends identifying and scaling up successful models. The most successful public radio stations emphasize news and information programming, operate multiple stations to serve a variety of audience interests and are licensed to community boards rather than institutions. At the national level, CPB and NPR are helping to strengthen local news capacity through Local Journalism Centers and Project Argo, projects that could be expanded.
The paper proposes creating a fund of at least $100 million to add 1,000 new public media reporters, an increase of 50 percent. One approach would be to focus on the top 25 markets with a goal of raising more than $400 million annually to fund 160 new reporters in each market. New staff should create a more diverse work force with expertise in digital media and content areas in need of attention. To ensure public media retain credibility, managers should also dedicate funding to professional development and editorial oversight. Public media should bolster capacity through partnerships with other media outlets, including community and investigative websites.
Public television stations, which for the most part produce little local news and information programming, should form a study group to develop a strategy for more news content and community engagement.
To become more inclusive, public service media should make inclusiveness a priority. This means increasing diversity in news and information staff at both the national and local levels, engaging a wider variety of communities, partnering with journalism schools to engage young people and creating a Public Media Corps to promote digital literacy.
To become more interactive, public media should follow up and expand on projects such as the Public Media Platform, an open application programming interface that will allow networks and local stations to share content online, and Public Insight Network (PIN), a database of experts drawn from public radio audiences. Managers should invest in professional development to help staff acquire digital skills, should promote staff use of social media and should purchase digital gear to add video to websites and on-air productions. Public media should also develop metrics to measure performance at the local level.
Public media leaders should become more active and involved in the development of the nation’s broadband policy. They should seek a broadband reservation similar to the spectrum reservation that would guarantee access, reduce costs of streaming and other technology and overcome copyright roadblocks.
To achieve these changes, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting should become the Corporation for Public Media. All license-holders, including universities and state and local governments, should form community governance structures. Stations should get support to create successful boards.
The Public Broadcasting Act should be overhauled to reflect the reality of digital media, and funds should be redirected from outmoded broadcasting infrastructure and duplication of service to building digital capacity. Congress should authorize new funds to enable public media to participate in broadband build-out. The Federal Communications Commission should make it easier for stations to acquire other stations and merge or enter into operating agreements. Philanthropic organizations at the national, regional and local levels should support investments in public media.
Above all, public media leaders need to embrace a new definition that is more local, more inclusive and more interactive. Only public media leaders can convince government and philanthropic supporters that they have a new vision worthy of their investment.
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